1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a multilayer ceramic capacitor capable of achieving a low crack generation rate and a high level of reliability, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an electronic component employing a ceramic material, such as a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric element, a varistor, a thermistor or the like, is provided with a ceramic body formed of a ceramic material, internal electrodes disposed inside the ceramic body, and external electrodes disposed on the surfaces of the ceramic body and connected with the internal electrodes.
Among such electronic ceramic components, a multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a stack of a plurality of dielectric layers, internal electrodes being alternately and opposingly interleaved therebetween, and external electrodes electrically connected to the internal electrode.
Such a multilayer ceramic capacitor is currently in widespread use for a mobile communications device such as a computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a cellular phone, due to its small size and capability of ensuring high capacitance and ease of mounting.
In response to recent trends towards smaller and high-functional electronic products, chip components therefor are also becoming smaller and high-functional. In this respect, high-capacitance capacitors having a small size are also in demand.
In a typical method of manufacturing a multilayer ceramic capacitor, ceramic green sheets are prepared, and conductive paste is printed onto the ceramic green sheets to thereby form internal electrode layers. Tens to hundreds of the ceramic green sheets, having the internal electrode layers printed thereon, are stacked to thereby form a green ceramic stack. Thereafter, the green ceramic stack is compressed at high temperature under high pressure so as to be hardened, and is then fabricated into a green chip through a cutting process. Subsequently, the green chip is subjected to plasticizing, firing and polishing, and external electrodes are formed thereon, thereby completing a multilayer ceramic condenser.
Recently, there has been an attempt to allow ceramic stacks to have a thin-film like structure and a multilayer structure. However, thinned and multilayered ceramic layers may vary in thickness, depending on whether or not internal electrodes are formed thereon. Moreover, thermal shock may be exerted on a ceramic capacitor due to differences in physical properties between the ceramic layers and the internal electric layers, thereby causing cracks therein.